Extreme-left anti-Israel legal organizations took action on Wednesday against Israel with a petition to the Supreme Court calling for the court to strike down the Regulation Law, passed this past Monday in the Knesset.
The Regulation Law legalizes and protects thousands of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria which were built in the past with government backing and were without absentee land claims, but against which there are now property claims. It allows for 125% compensation or alternate land to be offered claimants who prove ownership.
The group Adalah said that it and the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center would file the request on Wednesday afternoon to overturn what it called the "dangerous" Law.
"This sweeping and dangerous law permits the expropriation of vast tracts of private Palestinian land," Adalah's lawyer Suhad Bishara said in a statement, claiming that the Law “violates the property rights both of resident and refugee Palestinians."
Bishara went on to assert that the presence of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria constitutes a “war crime.”
"The transfer of the occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory is a war crime," Bishara said.
Following the passage of the Regulation Law, Israel was widely condemned by European leadership.
"As a longstanding friend of Israel, I condemn the passing of the Land Regularization Bill by the Knesset, which damages Israel’s standing with its international partners," said British Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood in a statement.
Similarly, The European Union chastised Israel over the law’s passage, delaying indefinitely a meeting between EU and Israeli officials that was to have taken place in February as a step towards mending strained relations.
On the other hand, the US has remained notably silent on the issue, refusing to condemn the Law.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu will be here on the 15th. I think that will be obviously a topic of discussion right now. I don't want to get ahead of that,” Spicer told reporters in his daily press briefing on Tuesday.
On Monday night, a State Department official refused to comment on the approval of the law, telling AFP that the administration was “withholding comment” in the meantime.
"The administration needs to have the chance to fully consult with all parties on the way forward," the official told the news agency, on condition of anonymity.
"At this point, indications are that this legislation is likely to be reviewed by the relevant Israeli courts, and the Trump administration will withhold comment on the legislation until the relevant court ruling."
AFP contributed to this report.